Merry Christmas 2011!

We wish you all a very merry Christmas! We had a wonderful family day. Here are a few pictures for you to enjoy (sorry that the lighting is so bad in so many of the pics - I had to use flash for quite a few):

...coming soon: Sean vs. the Stack of Books.

Another sunny winter day in our garden

Today was one of those wonderful sunny, almost warm winter days we often have here in Vancouver (but that people from elsewhere seem to think never happen here for all the "grey"). After a wonderful pancake breakfast cooked by Ben we went into the yard to play for a bit. Mark and Ben played Space Marines, Sean did what little boys do, and I enjoyed taking pictures and playing with camera settings. I'll let the photos speak for themselves. Enjoy!

Raking leaves

This post is dedicated to Sean, my little garden-helper. 

First, I want to share that Sean is starting to develop a sense of humor that is just plain wonderful. One of his newest skills is to tell you the sounds of lots of animals ("Sean, what does a snake say?" - "Ssss!" etc). Well, Sean has discovered that it is funny to tell us the wrong answer. Here is an example:

Me: "Sean, what does a dog say?"

Sean: "Bowowow!"

Me: "Sean, what does a crow say?"

Sean: "Caw! Caw!"

Me: "Sean, what does a duck say?"

Sean - gets a mischievous twinkle in his eye: "Moo!" - then he giggles at his own joke and looks infinitely pleased with himself. Then, just to make sure we know that he knows what a duck says, he says a quiet little "Khack khack." to himself. 

This is Sean's "I just made a joke"-face. 

As the title of this post promises, we raked leaves. Actually, both Ben and I have on 2 separate occasions raked 5 giant paper bags full of leaves. Monday was one of those gorgeous, crisp, sunny winter days that I love, so I bundled the boys (Sean and my friend's son Brady) and took them into the back yard. I worked on cleaning up the final pile-o-leaves. Sean *helped* me - he very proudly contributed to the leaf bag 2-3 leaves at a time. Once I was done, the boys took turns raking in the remaining pile-o-leaves that I left just for the kids to play in. 

All bundled, ready to play!

Sean, running into the leaves.

Sean, helping clear the leaves, 2-3 at a time.

Some leaves were put into the bird house, which is quickly turning into Sean's treasure closet (it has some lumps of dirt and pebbles in it, too)

Taking a short break from leaf-play.

Sean's turn to rake! First he tried to rake by holding the rake-end of the rake. (Uh, too many "rakes" in that sentence, sorry)

Then Brady helped him turn it around.

It was very fun to drag that big thing all over the garden!

Hi Momma.

Ok, seriously, Momma, if you keep waving that camera at me, I'll come and rake YOU!

(just for the record, I did NOT pose Sean with the rake!)

November Catch-up

We have been so busy the last few weeks that I completely forgot to post any pictures. We had a wonderful visit with my Mom, my brother, and my cousin Tim and his wife Jessica and their cute cute cute son Owen. We were having such a good time together that I completely forgot to take any pictures. 

I am sure you have been wondering what we have been up to? 

Ben has been been pretty busy at work since the software (hardware? both?) that is part of his project was implemented today after nearly a year of preparation. Ben goes to work early so that he can come home early - he is usually home by 4pm~ yay! Once Ben gets home from work he likes to change into comfy clothes, sit down on the couch and either watch something on his laptop or work on a cool virtual LEGO design program on his computer while the boys play around him and I cook dinner. Oh. And do you see that scarf? I finally finished the bacon-and-eggs scarf I started this summer! (In case you didn't know... Ben likes bacon. A lot.)

Sean has had a couple of rough nights and days lately, since he is getting molars. I have dubbed him "barnacle boy" (wouldn't that be a funny superhero to enact for the WLIIA skit game?). 

You'd never know it looking at these pictures... but he was up crying quite a bit the night before. By the way, that is not gel in his hair... I had to wash his head with a rag after he smeared banana in his hair.

Have I mentioned that Sean likes to climb? On. Everything. We have kind of given up on forbidding him to climb (except on the table or counters), and have instead showed him how to get up and down safely (aka not get down head first). He has a surprisingly good body awareness, and really doesn't fall down while he climbs. Sometimes he even does a little bouncy victory dance at the top. The bumps and bruises he frequently sports on his forehead are from running around the house, misjudging where corners are or sliding into things. 

Here are a few action pictures of Sean climbing in and out of our play kitchen sink:

Here are a few more pictures of Sean ON/in the sink set on another day:

(haha, note that the painting is now crooked)

Sean has been known to bob his head and bounce up and down in this position if the music is on.

I think the pictures speak for themselves. 

I don't have as many opportunities to take Mark's picture since he spends all day in school - from 9:05am until 3:35pm! Mark is doing really well, he is reading so well now that his teacher has to borrow books from another teacher friend for him to read at school. He has adjusted well to being a school-boy, and is enjoying the new freedom and responsibility this new chapter in his life brings with it. He has made some good friends in his class, and loves his teacher. 

I have to admit though, I really miss having my big boy around during the day! 

I (Katie) have been pretty busy wrapping up some custom paintings and packing and mailing many Etsy art print orders. If you haven't already, swing by my art blog at www.mossyrockdesigns.blogspot.com ...